bottom of the hour now. welcome back, everyone. i'm randi kaye. thanks so much for starting your morning with us. victor is on assignment. here's five stories we're watching this morning. let's get you caught up on what's happening in the middle east. thousands of israeli troops sparking speculation of a potential ground invasion. the israel defense forces says it's expanding its campaign to stop rocket attacks by palestinian militants. the u.s. and other nations are urging both sides to show restraint. but there were more air strikes and explosions in gaza today and more rockets fired toward israel. in aurora, colorado, details have been finalized for dividing up the $5 million for victims of july's theater shooting. families of the 12 people killed and 5 people who suffered permanent brain damage or paralysis will get 2$220,000 each. six people who spent at least 20 days in the hospital will get

$160,000 each. 13 others who spent less time hospitalized will get $35,000 each. in the gulf of mexico, the coast guard is searching for two crew members from an oil platform. an explosion ripped through the platform yesterday. it is about 20 miles from the louisiana coast and it's used for production, not drilling. very little fuel, we're told, was spilled. we now know the train that crashed into a parade float in midland, texas, was going under the speed limit. investigators say the conductor hit the emergency brake, but it was too late. four u.s. army sergeants were killed. the parade was to honor u.s. troops. officials say they died while help others get out of the way of that train. football legend mike ditka went to the hospital after having a minor stroke last night. he told the "chicago tribune" it wasn't a big deal. he is 73. he'll take a break from working at espn this weekend. he hasn't had any major health issues recently but had a heart

attack back in 1988. the israeli cabinet is calling up 70,000 reservists as palestinian rockets continue to fall this morning near israeli cities. once again, both sides are inching towards all-out war. last hour i spoke with a member of the israeli knesset and spoke with member of the palestinian legislative committee and i asked him for his reaction for the latest violence between hamas and israelis. whether he thinks hamas has enough international support moving forward with this conflict. >> first of all, let's put things in order because the responsible side for escalating this new round of violence is israel and not hamas. in israeli there was a truce during the last two and a half years and, of course, each time israel conducts air strikes on gaza, hamas responds with rocket attacks and then israel claims

it is the conflict. we don't want any person hurt in this conflict, but in this case, it's not right or just to say that israelies have the right to defend themselves. >> let me just say first of all that we're not saying palestinians don't have a right to defend themselves. but israel says it only began attacks in gaza after enduring months of rocket attacks on southern israel by palestinian militants. first of all, do you believe that's the case? if so, can you fault a government for fighting to protect its people? >> i don't agree with the israeli statement. i think it was israel that started the air strikes. 200 rockets and more than 300 air strikes on gaza. but the question here is how to stop that. it seems to me that this israeli government mr. netanyahu, the prime minister of israel, is using palestinian and israeli

for his election campaign. that is unjust, unfair and unacceptable. he is also saying his media people are saying his spokespersons are saying that there is no free media in gaza while there is a cnn correspondent and a bbc correspondent. they are insulting international media because they're preparing for the ground for huge casualties among palestinian among innocent civilians. it can only stop if israel is pressured. >> if this situation continues to escalate, we're looking at the potential here that israel could move into a ground assault. is that something that the people of gaza are ready for? >> if that happens, we will face a disaster and see hundreds of palestinian civilians killed because we're talking about the most populated area in the world. the most densely populated area in the world. 1.6 million people living in less than 140 square miles. this is a very little piece of

la land. 150,000 palestinians, including 450 children. this should not be allowed to happen. stop this escalation and not wanting to stop the violence, but also to initiate a process that allows to end occupation and to end the injustice that has prevailed in this place. to end the system of segregation. i always said to the israelis, when we struggle as palestinians, peacefully to end segregation, we are struggling not only for our freedom as palestinians, but israel's freedom from segregation that nobody can be proud of in the 21st century. today israel stepped up its precision air assault and said it leveled the palestinian cabinet headquarters, the place where just a day earlier the egyptian prime minister met with hamas officials. as tensions escalate between gaza and israel, syria's civil

war shows no sign of easing. five people have been killed today in syria's capital. take a look at this dramatic amateur video of a warplane taken to the skies in the northern province. >> you can hear that man behind the camera saying, oh, my god. oh, my god. he starts to run away for his life as the camera shakes there and then thick smoke and flames as bombs from the plane blow up buildings on the ground. incredible sight. violence flares between israelis and palestinians, but who has the upper hand? we'll look at the firepower in the region and what a ground attack would look like. but, first, a georgia woman creates a bakery specializing in treats for dogs. here's victor blackwell with the story of her new business that seems to be taking off.

>> krista's business inspiration came from her dogs. >> that's why i started baking treats for my dogs. and they liked them. and i just thought, wow, this could really be something. i love to bake anyway. and then it made me feel really good to make healthy things for my kids, which were my dogs. during the initial taste testing process, i am not going to lie, i think my dog gained a few ponds. >> she started a bakery specializing in treats and muffins and cakes made for dogs. most of the products are sold wholesale to pet stores across the country. but for krista, it's the local customers who make it worthwhile. >> the idea behind this business is it's more than just treats for dogs, it's a place where people can go with their dogs. >> you're a little early but here is an ice cream. who knew dogs like ice cream,

but they do. we thought, let's have a party. it started as a way to really advertise our business and promote ourselves and it just seemed to grow. like word of mouth. just a lot of fun. i mean, yeah, it has its own set of stresses owning a business, but it's all been worth it and i'm really looking forward to seeing where we can go. but because of business people like you, things are beginning to get rolling. and regions is here to help. making it easier with the expertise and service to keep those wheels turning. from business loans to cash management, we want to be your partner moving forward. so switch to regions. and let's get going. together.

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keeping you up to date on the escalating violence. you're looking at israeli and hamas television networks in the

region. our assignment editors are also monitoring those feeds and we also have reporters covering all sides in israel and gaza and along the border. in washington, our tom foreman takes a closer look at the man power and fire power in the region. >> let's look at how the battlefield is shaping up over in the middle east. here's israel alongside the mediterranean. about the size of new jersey, 75% jewish. the economy is good and unemployment below 7%. gaza very small. only about twice as big as washington, d.c., predominantly palestinian and the economy there is quite bad and unemployment is very high. globalfirepower.com has called israel the tenth most powerful military in the world. let's break that down and see why. they have compulsory military service. that means every young person must go into the military for a while. 176,000 active troops are available and they have about half million that they can call from reserves very quickly.

ground sources also very impressive. 3,000 tanks if you count all the artillery pieces and mortar, you get about 12,000 units that can operate on the ground. of course, their air force is formidable about 800 aircraft out there, including some 200 helicopters. this is largely what they used to have these strikes within gaza. now, if you look at hamas, their forces are much smaller in terms of their official forces certainly. if you look at people who are really in uniform, soldiers, police, whatever you want to call it, 12,500 and, of course, nothing like the weapons that the israelis have. however, palestinian militants do have lots and lots of rockets and i want to bring in a model of one of them here. this is a kassam 2. these rockets are popular because they're cheap and easy to make out of steel tubes. they only weigh 70 to 100 pound and they're fueled by commercial grade fertilizer and can pack quite a punch.

if you go beyond this to some of their more robust and better targeted rockets and missiles, then you also start talking about range. in this conflict so far, we have reports of weapons fired from gaza, traveling as much as 50 miles to hit jerusalem and tel aviv. in fact, israeli officials now believe as much as a fifth of the population of israel is subject to these rocket attacks. that's something they say they simply will not tolerate any more and that's why we keep hearing about talk and speculation about a possible ground invasion of gaza. >> tom foreman, thank you. so, what would a ground invasion actually look like? our brian todd has a look. >> reporter: a precision strike from the air killing the chief of hamas' military wing. but it appears israel is getting ready to go beyond pinpoint hints to maintain the hamas hit. the army has already moved nearly a division's worth of

troops, as many as 2,000 to the border of gaza. israel has sealed off the main roads around gaza. will israel invade on the ground? >> i think the chances are going up. >> reporter: jeffrey white, a former analyst says an israeli ground invasion would be a brutal, bloody grind. >> a high density of population throughout the strip and highest in the major areas of gaza city, but there are a lot of civilians in other places, as well. but the other part of this is that hamas fights from inside the cities. >> reporter: cities of narrow streets, bazaars, apartment buildings. translation, a punishing building-to-building slog in a place that is slightly more than twice the size of washington, d.c. we used a google map with cnn contributor general james spider marks. what kind of combat are we talking about? >> combat in restricted terrain. in gaza city there are about

500,000 people that live in this city. you can only imagine the type of combat that is going to take place in this very restricted terrain. >> reporter: terrain where mark says israeli troops will be exposed to ambush, sniper fire, suicide bombings. if a ground invasion is launched, it could be eerily similar to a conflict four years ago after hamas rocket attacks on israel. in in late 2008, early 2009, a short period of air strikes followed by a longer ground invasion of gaza. these are scenes from it. entire apartment blocks destroyed. estimates are up to 1,400 palestinians were killed, many of them civilians. about a dozen israelis were killed in that operation and then the israelis were able to split up gaza, cut supply lines. this time analysts say hamas could make it tougher. >> they have some better weapons, no question about it. they have much better tank

capability with the concord and they have a better capability. >> reporter: white says in 2008/2009 hamas units were not good at close combat with the israelis. they broke and ran and didn't coordinate well. he says since then they made an effort to improve with that with iran's help. brian todd, cnn, washington. petitions from all 50 states, yes, all 50 are asking to withdraw from the u.s. more than 100,000 signatures alone now support a texas secession. that's coming up. first, check out a clip from the next episode of "next list." >> this right here in this spot, this forest on this branch with these mosses is where i feel most at home. my enthusiasm in spreading this, you know, like a religious evangelist, if you know you have the truth, you want to make sure

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♪ onliny is significance petitions have been flying around since last week's election outcome, so much so that citizens in all 50 states have signed petitions to withdraw from the u.s., and while some only have a couple hundred or even a few thousand signatures, one texas petition

has more than 100,000 names supporting it. nick valencia is here to talk more about this. what's going on? how many people actually want to secede? >> there are tens of thousands of americans upset with the status quo, and they want to secede. even though texas has 100,000 signatures on this petition, it's still only a very small fraction of their percentage. less than 1% of the state's population. yes, there are people out there that are upset, wanted to be their own sovereign nation. seven states have reached the 25,000 signature threshold that warrants response officially from the white house, whether or not that response is what they want to hear, that's another question, but so far seven states, including north carolina, alabama, florida, tennessee, you see them there on the map. most of the states, red states that went for governor mitt romney. so far seven of the states warranting a response from the white house. >> so a lot of unhappy people. you spoke with a member of the texas nationalist movement. i mean, how serious are they about this? what is their complaint.

>> talk to the texas nationalist movement. they think it's a very legitimate reason to secede. over the last 100 years, i should say, that the united states has strayed from the constitution, that this should be a federation of sovereign states, and they feel that texas can sustain itself on its own. it has the 15th largest economy in the world, randi, have its own defense, texas national guard, and they just feel that they are in a position to sustain themselves. the texas nationalist movement has been at this since the mid-'90s and the person i spoke with, dave monday, nothing to do with his personal dislike for president barack obama. this organization has been at it since the mid-'90s. he joined when george w. bush was in office. this is more than just a red versus blue thing. this is about the government. >> and if they have been unhappy about how things have been going for the last 100 years, i guess it's really not about the president. >> not just about one man. they are upset about all sorts of things here, and they think they have a legitimate chance as seceding. so we'll see and keep an eye on

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talk about going nowhere fast. a businessman in london just couldn't get the hang of the escalator which, of course, means it was all over the internet right away, and because we never get tired of people doing some pretty strange things, here's cnn's jeanne moos. >> reporter: man versus escalator. he wants to go down. escalator is going to end up.

you know it's going toned up on youtube thanks to british tv producer sam knapper who pulled out his camera phone. >> it was pretty f-debt by his disheveled look. drunk and determined to go down the wrong way. >> reporter: there he was lurching like frankenstein trying to get down into the london underground oblivious to commuters yelling advice. it was 11:30 at night. the asian businessman didn't seem to understand english. no one tried harder to set the businessman straight than this red head. >> this is dangerous. we're gonna go this way. she physically grabbed the guy and tried to yank him, but he couldn't be determined to his march to nowhere. online posters called him the human hamster, hamster man, and though the comparison was apt, even a hamster takes a break sometimes. not this guy. the red head kept trying to come to his rescue. >> excuse me.

i can't i can't. i can't go on that. must have seemed like an endless commute stuck on what that old robert hazard song was. this is hard enough to do sober. if someone hadn't eventually pushed the stop button he might still be on that escalator. they tapped him, tried to get his attention from the side. finally. >> press the stop button. >> reporter: a young man did press the stuff button and grabbed the businessman. the weird thing about this chap was the minute we pressed the stop button, he had an opportunity to walk down the stairs, turned around and walked the other way. the escalator ride of his life was never, and he may never knew he took it unless or until he sees this video. ♪ up and down ♪ >> reporter: neither up nor down in this case. jeanne moos, cnn, new york. >> thanks for starting your mo